Cy Twombly, American, 1928 to 2011, mixed media, charcoal, pencil, and ink, painting on paper depicting an abstract composition. Signed lower left. Illegibly inscribed, upper to the center. Framed. Cy Twombly was an American painter, sculptor and photographer. Twombly is said to have influenced younger artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel and Jean Michel Basquiat. His best known works are typically large scale, freely-scribbled, calligraphic and graffiti like works on solid fields of mostly gray, tan, or off white colors. From 1948 to 1951, Cy Twombly studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, and the Art Students League, New York, where he met Robert Rauschenberg. At Rauschenbergs encouragement, he attended Black Mountain College, near Asheville, North Carolina, in 1951 and 1952, where he studied under Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and Ben Shahn. The Kootz Gallery, New York, organized his first solo exhibition in 1951. At this time, his work was influenced by Klines black and white gestural Expressionism as well as by Paul Klees childlike imagery. In 1952, Twombly received a grant from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that enabled him to travel to North Africa, Spain, Italy, and France. Upon his return in 1953, he served in the army as a cryptologist. From 1955 to 1959, he worked in New York and Italy, finally settling in Rome. American Fine Art, Abstract Modernist Paintings And Wall Decor Collectibles. One of a kind artwork.